Should You Gamify Direct Mail?

As you brainstorm ideas for making your direct mail more engaging, have you considered gamification? In this strategy, you turn your direct mail pieces into components of a game. You might deliver game boards, tokens, or pieces of a puzzle. Gamification creates an element of fun and engages your target audience in a fresh and interesting way.
In an article written for Marketing magazine, Jennifer Browers, director of loyalty marketing, Epsilon, listed four benefits of gamification. We added number five.
1. Takes the dull out of onboarding.
Introduce your products by letting recipients learn about them by adding pieces to a game board. Or mail out a series of surveys over a period of time, allowing you to gather data on your customers while they earn prizes for the surveys they complete.
2. Get your competition on.
Create competition between household members or colleagues in the same organization. Or create a group challenge for members of a team.
3. Bidder, bidder, bidder!
Browers points out that auctions are a form of gamification, too. Nonprofits can really benefit from this strategy.
4. Buddy up for a good cause.
Rewards earned in games can be used for a variety of purposes. Consider allowing recipients to donate the prizes they earn to programs and causes they care about.
5. Create long-term engagement.
Games create engagement that lasts over time. It gives you an opportunity to send a marketing touch every few days or week. These are contacts that your customers and prospects will not only tolerate, but actually look forward to. That’s marketing gold!
Are you ready for marketing gold? Let’s get your gamification on!